Care of Magical Creatures - Lesson One (All Years)

Hogwarts. A school Odysseas hadn't had the chance to visit. Not even once in his life. Therefore, it was natural for the man to be intrigued. Before he had decided to apply for a job here, Odysseas had thought about his decision one too many times, and each time he ended up with the same result. He wanted to go there, even though working as a Profession had never been his dream. Nonetheless, it was a good opportunity, and a smart man would seize every opportunity and make the most out of it.

A letter was sent to the Headmistress during the summer, and after a few weeks of waiting, Odysseas received a reply, informing him that the school board had been glad to receive his letter, and even more glad to accept him as one of the Staff. And this was how Odysseas found himself out on the school Grounds that morning, awaiting for his students to arrive. If anyone asked him whether he was nervous, the man would have denied it. But anyone who knew him well would be able to see that Odysseas was --slightly-- on edge. It was, after all, the first time he would teach.

The lesson he had prepared for today wasn't a hard one, but it was more of an introduction to the way he would be teaching class. With that said, Odysseas decided to leave the more dangerous creatures aside, for now, until he was sure of the capabilities of his students. Plus, the first lesson had to be friendly for all the years. As the man waited for his students to arrive, he busied himself with the little Crup that would be the example for his lesson today.

"Let's give them a good first impression, darling." The man said at the hound, petting its head with a smile. His students would be arriving sure, he hoped. It shouldn't be long, now.

The summer had been good, or... it had been good, up until the point she'd returned home. The summer in Italy had been beautiful, eye opening, and... somehow... somehow she and Jacques had conquered the country together for their family. But the whole summer had been turned upside down when she'd returned home with her brother to find a party.

It was noted to be in her honour, and for a time, the Hufflepuff witch had enjoyed herself. For a time. As the night came to an end and people began to retire to bed, Elenore had moved to sit with her Grandmere, a smile upon her face as she had enjoyed herself.

A smile that had been wiped from her features as her Grandmere explained that she had been foolish to believe the party -- no matter how explicit her parents had been -- was not for her. It had always been for Jacques, and his success in Italy. It had only been a ploy to make Jacques look even better in their parents eyes, to allow Elenore to believe they were celebrating her contribution. After all, men were the most important in their world.

The smile had faded, but to the youngest Clement's credit, the tears had not fallen until she'd been in bed that evening, feeling like a complete fool for believing her parents were proud of her. That Jacques could possibly think she was worthy of praise.

Summer had been ruined further when her results for her sixth year came through. Her grades had slipped from Outstandings down to Exceeds Expectations, and in some cases, Acceptable. Her Papa had called her to his office to discuss it, and Elenore had sat meekly through their talk, not meeting her Papa's eyes as he asked her if she needed anything. If there was anything she needed to strengthen her grades. Elenore had refused her Papa's help politely, promising to do better the next year, before leaving his study.

The overwhelming feeling of not being good enough clung to the witch as she moved back to her room, hiding from the world.

The rest of the summer had been spent in near solitude for Elenore. Aside from meeting her Grandmere each morning for tea, and then meals with the family, Elenore retracted from them all with the understanding she was not truly wanted in the Palace, her Maman's words from Christmas seeming but a fairy tale now...

September came, and Elenore was shipped off to Hogwarts once more. The trip to the castle had been in solitude through choice, the French witch watching quietly as the countryside rolled past her carriage. The younger students made too much noise the whole way, and Elenore tried to block them out, but the excitement only grew as the hours passed, and the deepening feeling of isolation grew the further she travelled from her Grandmere.

When the castle had loomed in to view, Elenore could not stomach food, or the sight of Mimosa, so she'd turned away from the Great Hall, and moved straight for the Hufflepuff Dorms. Shutting the door to the Seventh Years' dorm firmly behind her, Elenore moved to her four poster via her trunk, and sat to write home to her Grandmere straight away.

The first few weeks had been the same routine. Waking, eating, lessons, lunch, lessons, dinner, and then back to her dorm to complete her homework. Elenore bothered no one, and no one bothered her.

There had been two instances in the change to her routine, the first to show the new professor around the school, something the Headmistress had asked of her, despite having numerous prefects to put to work, and then the news of the sleepover had met Elenore. Almost everyone, it seemed, had been invited to the sleepover in the Room of Requirement... Everyone, except her. It didn't matter to Elenore that she wouldn't have gone -- Mimosa had been the instigator of the sleepover -- but to not been invited? No, the witch felt her heart clench tightly knowing she had not received an invite. Knowing that no one had thought of her...

Elenore had remained isolated since then, and on the first day of Care of Magical Creatures classes being open, she'd hurried down the grounds to the meeting area. She'd been the first to arrive, finding the professor with...

"Crups!" Elenore breathed, her features lighting up in a manner that had not happened for over a month now. Joy showed clearly on her features, but she caught herself a moment later. "Monsie- Professor Venizelos." She greeted politely, catching herself from the point of addressing him in the manner she would have outside of the school setting.

Dominique was excited as she was taking care of magical creatures. This year seemed like it was going to be amazing. As she knew that she had to write her uncle Jackson about this. She had no idea who was going to be in the class. Dominique hoped that Sasha or Mimosa would be in the class. Or even Mercy or Elena. There were so many people that she hoped was also taking the class. It seemed like Dominique was a popular person. But she wasn’t going to let that get to her head. As she was the same old person.

But she was going to focus on care of magical creatures. As this year she was also taking Global Citizenship. And she would also have to mention the dragon lady to her uncle. She knew that he was busy because she hadn’t gotten a letter back. Meaning she would have to send him another one.

Even though it had only been a few weeks, Mimosa felt as though she'd been back at Hogwarts for months. There was just always so much to do and so many things demanding her attention all at cone that the Slytherin found it had to keep track of time. Days simply flew by as the fun never ended, turning into weeks. Even classes were getting better now that the young witch had a better idea of which ones to take and which reading heavy ones to avoid. As a result, she had completely dropped Ancient Runes and History from her syllabus this year, leaving her free to attend cooler classes with teachers that didn't make you read stuff.

Mimosa had returned straight to the British isles from India, not having the time to go back home to America. Grandpa had been there to greet her and had promised her Clara would tag him out closer to the school year but Mimosa didn't mind. grandpa had let her run around the entire house unchecked and as a result, her final week of holidays had been spent lounging by the pool and sending letters, texts and emails to all her friends. What was even better, Clara had not arrived alone two days before September first, she had been accompanied by Jacques who had brought along with him the usual dozen boxes and packages from the palace. Of course, those two had also given her the recommended reading material for the year as determined by her educational therapists but that was a small price to pay for seeing her two favoritest people in the world!

And then it was back to school. The amazingly cheerful and noisy train (Mimosa had had a lot of fun running the length of all the carriages with Mercy, chasing the trolley witch around for sweets), the beautiful (sorting ceremony (this time, no one was forgotten and a trio of African triplets had been sorted in three different houses) and then the #EpicSleepover had happened. Amid all o this, Quidditch practices had started for the year and Squid Boy had amazingly joined the team as her fellow beater, massively beating out Ji Hyun who had also tried for the same position.

The eleven year old had no idea why two of her fellow second years had vied for the same position but they certainly now had some tension between them, made all the more obvious as they now walked on each side of her to Care of Magical creatures. Mimosa wondered if Catherine, Constance or Emily had noticed anything but the girls remained either quiet or oblivious. Behind the Slytherins a small groups of Ravenclaws followed, lead by Seema Biswas of course. Her younger brother Arman had been sorted into Ravenclaw this year too and now hid behind his sister at every moment possible. Jia En was the only one who braved the house divide, walking behind her brother in the serpent crowd. Bushrah's dark hijab bobbed as usual in he background somewhere.

"Dia!!!" the American witch yelled upon spotting her friend already there, disengaging from her green and silver entourage to go stand by her fellow American. "Oh my god, are those puppies???" the child's face lit up in the most glowing smile possible, her excitement completely making her forget to greet the teachers as she sank to her knees, making small noises at the Crups she did not recognize yet.

"Here puppy puppy," she called out, gesturing with her hands for the tiny mammal to come forward. "God puppy puppy, my puppy, come to Mimosa."

Elena was already to go for class. She had her bag with all her necessities for the day and a smile ready to go. Sometimes people said she was too positive but she didn't care, it helped her through life and that was okay with her. She walked out of Hogwarts and towards the grounds to her classroom for the day. She wondered what would be taught that day.

Elena was really hoping she didn't bust her ass like she was used to. She had a tendency of being clumsy as hell and she needed to work on that. She finally saw where class was being held and quickened her pace just a little. She seen some familiar faces and some not so familiar. She hoped this would be a good year, she needed it. Hopefully she found love and more friendship. One girl can hope right? She would remain herself that's what she did know.

Care of Magical Creatures has never been really the subject of what Sasha has been super excited. She did love different animals but sometimes these things could be very creepy for her or then too much info about them what she might never use again. But still, you saw the girl walk towards where the class was held today.

Once she reached there she saw there some familiar face. Some of them she knew better than others but she decided to keep her distance today. She wasn't really in the very good mood today to communicate with people. She did have fun at the sleepover but this didn't make her own problems go away.

She hoped that the lesson will start soon so they could get over with it. She wasn't even that sure what going on here. She was the animals there but she couldn't really tell what they were. Her knowledge of magical creatures wasn't super good. She looked at those things and just remained silent there now.

There was really no point to speak really but she will try to answer questions when they are asked.

A smile graced the wizard's features as he watched his students arriving, one after the other. The man wasn't sure how many children would attend his class, but the more the merrier! First, the Clement Heiress arrived and Odysseas gave her a small smile and a nod, showing her that her slip of the tongue was not something he worried much about. Habits died hard, he knew that very well, and after all, she meant no harm.

More students arrived, but unfortunately, Odysseas wasn't familiar with any of their names. There was a variety of ages, though the sex remained the same. Girls. It seemed like the male population of the school was not really interested in the Creatures of the Magical World. One of the little ones tried to get the Crup's attention, but the wizard-bred dog didn't move towards her. The reason why would be revealed later in the lesson.

Clapping his hands together, Odysseas waited for everyone to quiet down, before he spoke. "Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures! My name is Odysseas Vinizelos, and I will be your Professor this year." A few whispers erupted, mostly because everyone was wondering what happened to their previous Professor, Odysseas believed, but the children soon quieted down, and the man was back to talking.

"Now, now. I am sure most of you know what today's lesson is going to be, but I will explain anyway." Motioning at the Crup with his hand, Odysseas began explaining. "This is Elina, my Crup. Now, does anyone know any information about them?"

The creature whose name was revealed as Elina, was very cute and precious. A crup was a great creature... for Wizards and Witches at least. When the Professor asked about what a Crup was, Elena was the first one who raised her hand. She loved school and animals so this was the perfect class for her. "A Crup is a very loyal creature to Witches and Wizards and seems to resemble a Muggle animal called a Jack Russell Terrier. Now they're loyal to us but to Muggles, not so much" Elena finished her answer and felt pretty proud of herself because she knew an answer.

She also knows so much about them because when her father brought one home it tried to attack her mother and she was stuck learning the history of all the magical creatures that the Wizarding world had to offer. She would never bring a Crup near a muggle... Thats for sure.

Elenore watched the Crup with a fond smile from where she stood, wishing to just move to stand with the small creature but knowing better than to act in such a manner. Puppies were simply adorable, no matter how old they were, and Elenore longed for one of her own. She knew, though, that she would never be allowed one of her own whilst she lived at the Palace.

As Monsieur Venizelos started his lesson, Elenore's eyes flickered from the man to the beast intermittently, not wishing to appear rude. The answer that was given to the question to begin with was alright, she supposed, but the Slytherin witch had left out a few things.

"Crups are normally required, by Law, to have their tails severed when they're young so that they do not stand out in the Muggle world. As Elina here still has her forked tail, this would suggest you've satisfied the laws of your own country to show that you'll take responsibility for any wrong doings of the animal." Elenore explained, motioning to the tail which was clearly displayed. "Muggles would find such looks on non-magical beasts to be odd, and therefore the Ministries of many countries prohibit the tails from being left.

"What has been touched upon earlier is that Crups are not very well trained towards Muggles. This would infer that they have a sense of magical ability in humans, and when they cannot feel the presence of magic, they become highly aggressive. Therefore, owners of Crups are expected to keep their pets under tight control to ensure that they're not harming Muggles on mass." Elenore continued, pausing for a moment to allow others to keep up. "Despite their aggressive tendencies, however, the Ministries in most countries are agreed that competent witches and wizards should not find it difficult to look after a Crup."

With that said, Elenore's eyes returned to the puppy, waiting ever so patiently to be allowed to move forth and pet the Crup.

Sadly for Mimosa, no matter how much she coo-ed at the little creature, it would not come to her. Unsure if the animal could hear her, Mimosa looked up at the teacher and then Dia in confusion. Why was something not coming to her when she'd clearly told it to? The Crup must be hard of hearing, she decided as she rose to her feet once more, standing beside Dia and listening to the professor talk. He said the puppy's name was Elina so maybe Mimosa had to call her by her name?

When the tall wizard asked if anyone knew anything about Crups, lots of people spoke up. The best answer was given by her Elenore of course. Mimosa watched the older girl recite facts she must have read in many books about the puppies... And an idea formed in her head.

If Elenore liked Crups... and Mimosa answered a question about them, Elenore would forget the little game. She might smile at Mimosa and even praise her... She might say at least a single word to Mimosa in over a year now...

"Umm..." The young witch raised hr hand. She didn't know much about Crups and whatever was in the book had already probably been covered so the child used her eyes instead, assessing the little creature who stood not too far away. "They're fluffy, like this one!" she offered, trying to come up with something else, anything else.